


Connect Four

by Lauren_is_a_moron



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Betty and Jughead hate each other but an unexpected experience brings them close, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Supernatural Elements, Telepathy, but not in the way you think, core four fluff too, like really close, repost, some smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22881490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lauren_is_a_moron/pseuds/Lauren_is_a_moron
Summary: The latter of whatever Jughead was about to say was cut off by a blinding flash in front of Betty's eyes, as if a nuke had been dropped directly in front of her. In that moment, it felt like she'd stared into the core of the sun. She opened her mouth to scream, to cry out, but before she could, something was hitting her, a shock wave propelling her into the air. The windows were shattering, the ceiling was falling on top of her, and she couldn't breathe, couldn't scream!In her decaying mind, everything went in slow motion. The classroom seemed to cave in, the walls falling through as she stayed suspended in mid air, as if an invisible hand had reached out and grabbed her, holding her for a second. Before dropping her back into the chaos, as the world swallowed her up. Suddenly she was drowning in a blur of black, her limbs being twisted and warped into oblivion. There was pain, so much pain, nothing like she'd ever felt.or: Betty Cooper doesn't even want to be in the same room as her ex boyfriend Jughead Jones, and now she shares his thoughts, after they're both caught up in an explosion.Wonderful.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews & Jughead Jones, Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper/Veronica Lodge/Jughead Jones, Archie Andrews/Jughead Jones, Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	1. Thanks Dilton

**Author's Note:**

> im coming to the end of the reposts now :D this one was great to write, i hope you enjoy! :)

* * *

It was a tragedy of epic proportions.

One that Betty hadn't been expecting.

Riverdale High's cafeteria was a cacophony of loud chatter, each table a cosseted huddle of kids raising their voices to be heard above the din. The walls were pale yellow which almost made her feel nauseous, and the tiled floor was always splattered with whatever unhealthy cuisine tired looking lunch lady's were serving. Betty Cooper inhaled the usual aroma of fry grease and mystery meat as she took another step in the long, winding line of kids. Last night's Netflix marathon had been a mistake. She could barely keep her eyes open, which made her a hazard in a crowded lunch hall. The food was secondary to the information that was exchanged there. Over the over-salted fries alliances were formed and gossip was traded like poker chips; Who was dating who? Who was pregnant? Cheryl Blossom's yell was almost falsetto, her voice riding over every other, desperate to be heard. Betty looked up from her phone, where she'd been mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, her half lidded eyes falling on a tall redhead at the front of the queue. The girl was screeching at a freshman, pointing her perfectly manicured scarlet nails at the trembling boy, who had accidentally bumped into her. Cheryl was a force to be reckoned with; the school's very own queen bee, a scarlet goddess with devilish looks and legs for days. She wore her River Vixen uniform like a queen, promptly showing off.

"Apologise!"

"I'm sorry! It won't happen again!"

As Betty stood in the queue for her plate of unidentified meat and lumpy dessert she cast her gaze away from Cheryl's vicious torment, letting her tired eyes flicker around the lunch hall, caught up in a daydream. Since freshman year she had always had a table to sit at, with her allocated group of friends. It had been the four of them since kindergarten; The cheerleader, the Jock, the weirdo, and - of course Betty. The brains. They were Riverdale's very own Breakfast Club, and Betty couldn't believe she was that lucky to have all four of them. But not this year. This time around the tables had quite literally been turned after a Summer of mistakes and tears. After making the biggest mistake of her life, Betty's group had disbanded and she was left on her own, having lost her two best friends and more importantly, her boyfriend. It was her fault, so she couldn't really blame them. But Betty still felt like they had overreacted. If only they had given her time to explain, they might have taken it a little better. She knew what she did was wrong, and would do anything to take it back. But they had been so quick to judge her, to point accusing fingers, even if she wasn't the only guilty one.

Betty wished they'd listened. They'd understood. Like they'd promised too at every sleep over they'd had as kids, and then camp outs when they got older. Whatever happened, they'd promised as a four, that they would always understand each other.

Bullshit.

Now she was stuck on her own. And sure, sometimes it felt good to finally be left alone. But every single day? It was like wading through thick molasses. School became a chore, something she'd dread every single day. And the weekends, even in the months leading up to Summer, she spent them inside, doing homework or binging Brooklyn Nine Nine for the fifth time. Her mother didn't ask questions, because she saw the three of them as bad influences, but did her best, behind the scenes, to try and get the three's parents to talk to their kids. Which never happened. They were stubborn and refused to make amends. So Betty was left in the dark, falling down a hole that she had dug herself.

Betty caught her reflection in the shiny, reflective surface she was dragging her tray along, and inwardly groaned. The girl staring back at her looked like a ghost, turbulent blue eyes, twisted lips and pale cheeks. Betty tried to smile, but it looked more like she was grimacing. If a cat had eaten her hair and puked it back out, then let it dry in the sun, it would look just the same; the tangle would take hours to brush out.

It was her River Vixen uniform that Betty missed. She had been so used to wearing it to school, happy to show off the school colours. But ever since Summer, Cheryl Blossom had kicked her off the squad, despite her being their best flyer. Apparently Betty had broken "sacred girl code" which was suddenly a thing. So after reluctantly turning in her cheerleading skirt and pom poms, Betty had resigned herself to a wardrobe of black's and navy's, which ironically matched her mood. Instead of wearing bright pastel colours which stood out as she happily walked the corridors, her best friends at her side, Betty instead wore oversized dark hoodies over leggings, which turned her into a ghost.

That day had been no different. Betty wore one of her older sister's college sweaters over a pair of skinny jeans, her blonde hair dangling haphazardly in her face.

Sometimes she caught stares and heard snippets of whispers on the hallways. "Has Betty Cooper lost it?" though most of them already knew the story, since Midge Klump, another of her growing list of ex best friends, had happily spilled it to everyone, regardless of her feelings. Betty wasn't expecting the girl to take sides, since they were all nearly seventeen years old, and mature (at least that's what she had thought) but Midge had happily cut Betty out of her life, and every glance she sent her in the hallway was full of poison, as well as raised eyebrows, lips curled in amusement as she was left with nobody to sit with in classes. Midge was, for reasons unknown, loving that she was now an outcast. Initially she had been hurt, but as the days had turned to weeks, Betty had eventually gotten over it. Though Midge barely even looked at her anymore.

Maybe that was a good thing.

As for the three she had lost, they had also been quick to pretend she didn't exist. When Betty bumped into them individually, they wouldn't even acknowledge her, and that fucking hurt. It felt like her heart was splintering. The jock would avoid her gaze, the cheerleader's blue eyes burned into her own, and the weirdo just ducked his head and didn't even bother making eye contact with her. It was weird how three kids could go from her best friends to strangers, ghosts, passing her by in a blur. She hadn't been so quiet in the beginning, deciding to stage an intervention. After getting far too sad, and very drunk on her mother's tequila, Betty had sent them a risky text, hoping for forgiveness. If they weren't going to be friends anymore she expected some kind of closure, a real proper end to their ten year long friendship. Betty deserved at least that.

But one by one, to her horror, they had each left the group chat, with not even so much as a goodbye. And Betty had been so mad, so frustrated, so overwhelmed with emotion and anger at herself, she had thrown her phone at the wall and poured herself another glass of tequila. But all that had done was give her a wicked hangover and a bad taste in her mouth. It was obvious, after days of trying to bring them back together, that her friends were past fixing. And once Betty had gotten over the denial and come to terms with it, she had finally left it alone. Presently, she had deleted their number's off her phone, along with any pictures and video's. The collage she'd made of them in fourth grade had been ripped down in fury, replaced by posters of her favourite director's films.

It was like getting over an ex. But instead of one person, it was three.

"Next!" a lunch lady yelled, dragging her out of her thoughts.

Betty snapped her head up. She swore she could taste the bitter tint of tequila searing the back of her throat.

The woman had greying hair held up in a hair net, and just looking at her, Betty knew she had spat in her food. She smiled politely and pointed to a plate of lasagne. At least that's what Betty thought it was. It looked like roadkill that had been peeled off steaming concrete. She made a mental note to start bringing her own food from home. The lunch lady dumped a bowl of banana pudding on her tray as well as a bottle of water, and Betty nodded her thanks, turning to face the maze of tables that awaited her. Most of the chairs had been filled. Betty's cheeks burned, and she shuffled uncomfortably. Maybe the girl's bathroom was her best bet. After all, she was itching to get back to the book she'd been discreetly reading in math, since she had already completed the syllabus.

"Betty!" a familiar voice cut through her thoughts and she scanned the crowd in confusion, before her gaze landed on Kevin Keller. She couldn't resist smiling a little. Kevin was the only one who hadn't abandoned her. But she barely saw him, since he had began dating Fangs Fogarty, a mysterious leather clad kid who regularly pulled Kevin under the bleachers, no doubt to make out. But to Betty's confusion, Fangs was nowhere to be seen. There was only Kevin, sitting at a table on his own. Kevin Keller was the only openly gay kid at Riverdale high. He was handsome with dark brown hair straying in amused green eyes. Since meeting Fangs the boy had ditched his usual sweater vests for tight shirts and skinny jeans. It was a look Betty still couldn't seem to get used to.

When she caught Kevin's eye, he grinned, patting the seat next to him. "Are you coming or not?" the boy raised his glass of water in greeting, and Betty snapped out of it, flashing him a grin. She started forwards, but stopped abruptly, when she caught a flash of vivid red, streaked with the school colours, blue and gold. The Bulldog Letterman jacket. Betty lost her breath, her chest clenching. Keep walking. She told herself, ducking her head. But she couldn't resist looking up. It was hard not to. After so many weeks only seeing glimpses of him in the hallway. Betty risked looking up, her heart dropping into her throat. There he was. Her very own mistake. The boy was careening towards her, eyes somewhere else entirely, his head was no doubt in the clouds. Betty used to tease him for daydreaming. But now the sight of him turned her gut.

Archie Andrews held his lunch tray awkwardly, his red hair a straggly mess sitting underneath a navy baseball cap. Betty glimpsed white headphone wires dangling down his chest, and noticed his lips were moving slightly, mumbling lyrics to whatever he was listening to.

Betty held her breath. The boy hadn't seen her yet. Instead his gaze was swooping the cafeteria, searching for his teammates. Gripping her tray tighter, she made a move to cut around Archie, and at that exact moment, when the memories of him began to hit her like bolts of electricity, their eyes met. Hers widened slightly, and all she could think of was the feeling of his lips on hers, his heavy breath tickling her collarbone, her own hands streaking through sweaty strands of his hair. But Archie Andrews had been a tiny fling, an experiment to see if she truly still had feelings for the boy she had crushed on since fourth grade. Betty tried to smile at him, but his lip curled, and she could almost see the memories of them flitter across his brown eyes, which broadened almost comically. Once he was over the initial shock of seeing her, he scowled, and she broke all over again. Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion, Betty struggled with what to do. Did she turn and walk away? She felt every eye in the room turn to her, burning into her back. Thanks to the gossip chain, everyone knew Betty and Archie weren't friends.

That might have been the point where she'd speak. Maybe she'd say "Hi" or something along those lines. But Betty didn't see the large spillage of banana pudding which spread out across the cafeteria floor. She hadn't seen Dilton Doiley drop it a few minutes earlier. If she had, she would have narrowly avoided it, and safely made it to Kevin's table, without making a fool of herself. But Betty had been caught up in her thoughts, and then Archie had came along, breaking down the barriers she had built up, projecting her back to that warm Summer's night in the back of his dad's pickup. So instead of stepping around the growing stain of pudding, Betty stepped into it, and before she could stop herself, her foot was slipping backwards in total cartoon fashion, a squeak escaping her lips as her tray, lasagne and all, was propelled directly into Archie's face. Betty managed to catch her balance, and was ready to spew out apologies, but the sight of her lunch dripping from the boy's horrified face, instead sent her into giggles, which erupted from her mouth before she could stop herself. Archie didn't seem to find the funny side. Yanking his earphone out with one hand, and swiping tomato sauce out of his eyes, Archie's brown eyes turned murderous.

"What the hell?!" he spluttered, his voice booming across the cafeteria, reverberating off the walls. Betty stopped laughing when he dug into his own lunch, grabbing his steak pie, dripping with gravy and a handful of greasy fries, before hurling it at her, with a angry hiss.

Betty ducked, thank god, but meat sauce still splashed her face, splattering all over her sweater. The pie seemed to change trajectory in mid-air. Betty turned, and her heart stopped when she saw him, power walking across the cafeteria with his own tray of lunch. But he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jughead Jones had his headphones on, so he was oblivious. But when he looked up to scan the room, green eyes peering through tousled brown hair sitting underneath a knitted beanie, he was greeted to Archie's pie, which managed to hit him directly in the face before sliding down the front of his checked jacket. Archie, to Betty's surprise, let out a surprised laugh, but he didn't apologise. Betty found herself frozen. Jughead Jones didn't react for a moment. He stood stiffly, glaring down at his ruined jacket. "What-" his gaze settled on Archie, before he grabbed his sloppy Joe in silent fury, launching it at the redhead, who stumbled out of the way, very nearly slipping in the banana pudding. There was a loud squeak, followed by a shriek of alarm, which sent her heart into a frenzy.

Betty turned to find Jughead's lunch covering Veronica Lodge, who stood, fuming, her River Vixen uniform covered in meat sauce, her perfect raven hair oozing caramelised onions. The girl was holding a salad, which she automatically grabbed and flung at Jughead. But he didn't move, his lips curling into a smirk. Betty knew what he was thinking. What could a salad do? It was just lettuce. Except he didn't see the girl's strawberry milkshake in her other hand.

It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. Veronica picked up her milkshake with a spiteful smile, her cheeks burning with fury, before striding over to the boy, who stayed stubbornly still. Veronica didn't say anything, before dumping the milkshake over Jughead's head, followed by the rest of her salad. Archie stayed silent, his expression a mixture of amusement and horror. Jughead, with milkshake dripping from his lashes, picked up his tray and dumped the remainder of his lunch all over the squeaking girl. Betty was too busy staring at Veronica and Jughead to notice Archie had taken the opportunity to make her day worse. She turned, only to be greeted lukewarm gravy hitting her eyes, this time hitting her in the face. She flinched, and on instinct, grabbed her bowl of banana pudding.

Archie's eyes widened, but she didn't hesitate, flinging it at the boy's face, showering him in yellow sludge. Neither of them were smiling, but she supposed this had been building up over the course of weeks and months, all boiling down to this moment. Where they finally lashed out at each other. Archie dropped his own tray with a frustrated yell, before grabbing clumps of pudding dripping from his own face, and projecting it back at her.

Reggie Mantle hopped onto a table and cupped his mouth, a grin spreading across his lips.

"FOOD-" his yell was cut off abruptly when Mr Weatherbee grabbed his arm, yanking him back down. Betty froze. She hadn't noticed the principal coming in. She dropped the bottle of water she was about to pour over Archie's head, hanging her head in shame as a mixture of pudding and gravy dripped from her cheeks. The thrill and adrenaline that had streamed through her dispersed, and Betty was left covered in food, peering through soaked lashes at her old friends. Jughead looked barely recognisable, his face covered in thick milkshake, while Archie and Veronica looked like they'd just taken a dip in a garbage can. The jock was grimacing, and the cheerleader looked ready to burst out crying. Mr Weatherbee glared at the four of them, and Betty knew they were in for it. They stood in a square of spilled gravy, splatters of meat pie and strawberry milkshake. If Betty had sense, she might have make a quick getaway after Archie had flung his lunch at her. Then she could avoid the fallout. But something had kept her glued to the ground, a longing that had returned, tightening her chest. Even if this was perhaps the worst way it could happen, the four of them were back together again. She pursed her lips, trying to avoid Veronica's accusing eyes.

_Sort of._

"Who started this?" Weatherbee demanded, his voice a guttural growl. The principal barely ever shouted, so it was jarring to hear him finally lose the plot. Betty had always been a good student, taking part in extra curricular's and organising the homecoming dance every year, so most of the time, she was on his good side. She waited for her name to be called. After all, she was the one who had slipped in the pudding and dumped her lasagne all over Archie. But he had been the one to react, setting off a chain of events that ended in the four of them flinging food at each other like hyperactive kindergarteners.

Nobody spoke.

"Well?" the teacher yelled. Betty winced. His voice was like a drill, digging through her skull. The lunch room was quiet, and not even Cheryl Blossom offered up her name. She glanced at Jughead, and her heart fluttered. Once upon a time, they had been completely inseparable. Betty and Jughead against the world. They made each night their very own, tangled together in his bed sheets, her head against his chest while he spoke of nothing and everything. Now the boy was practically a stranger staring back at her, Veronica Lodge's strawberry milkshake streaking down his olive cheeks and clinging to strands of brunette hair hanging in torpid green eyes. His lip was curled with distaste, but he, like the others, stayed unusually quiet, ducking his head to avoid her gaze.

"It was all of them, Mr W," Reggie Mantle spoke up. When Betty met his twinkling eyes, his mouth was split into a shark grin. "Betty threw her lunch on Archie, and then he dumped his on Jughead, and then Jughead tried to hit back, but it landed on Veronica-"

"I've heard enough." Weatherbee growled, waving his hand dismissively. "Detention. All four of you, starting after school, and then for the rest of the week."

"But I've got football practise," Archie's eyes widened. "Coach Clayton needs me, I'm their star quarterback."

Veronica nodded, scrubbing desperately at her ruined skirt. The girl looked ridiculous covered in a mixture of gravy and tomato sauce, but she didn't lose her natural glow, instead shining right through it. Much to Betty's annoyance. "I've got cheerleading, Mr Weatherbee. We have a game on Friday night, and I'm their flyer."

The principal glared at Archie and Veronica. "Well you should have thought about that before you turned my lunch room into your own personal playground!"

This time, neither of them protested. Mr Weatherbee power walked towards the door, the silence of the cafeteria following in his wake. Nobody dared speak.

"Detention! After school. If you're not there, you face suspension." were his parting words before he hurried out, no doubt to track down the janitor.

Betty stood stiff, waiting for her friends to start yelling at her. It seemed like that at first. the three of them stood, staring at each other with various levels of disgust twisting their expression's. The lunch room erupted into loud chatter again, but none of them moved. Cheryl Blossom began to loudly over exaggerate the food fight, with Reggie Mantle joining in, laughing. Betty expected Archie to start laughing along with his Bulldog friend, as if this was all a huge joke, and he was only part of it because he wanted to be. But instead the redhead ducked his head, glaring at the ground.

After what felt like an eternity of standing there, shoes sliding in left over bits of food, they took turns walking away. Veronica was first, making sure she kicked left over lasagne at Archie, covering any parts of him that had survived the food fight with tomato sauce. The boy scoffed before walking off in the opposite direction, swearing colourfully under his breath. That left Betty and Jughead. The raven haired boy tilted his head, his green eyes narrowing. But he didn't say anything. Betty felt the words searing the back of her throat, his name- the name she'd been wanting to say for so long, and he was directly in front of her.

Covered in strawberry milkshake.

"Jug-" she started to say, but the breath caught in her throat when he shook his head, before backing away, pulling off his beanie and wringing it of thick milkshake. He simply saluted her with a sarcastic smile, before turning and heading towards the exit.

Betty swallowed the words she wanted to say, her chest burning. Before she too turned and forced her wobbling legs to walk away from the scene. Suddenly everything was a colourful blur as her eyes filled with tears, but there was gravy and milkshake in her eyes, and she felt she was going to vomit. Blinking rapidly to avoid another show right there and then she made a beeline for the fire exit doors, pushing through them. Suddenly Betty couldn't breathe, her lungs were squeezing, and her stomach was in her throat. Finally, when she was outside, gulping in fresh air, she allowed herself to once again break.

It almost felt like she'd lost the three of them all over again.

* * *

Slamming her locker shut, Betty took a deep breath. No matter how many times she spritzed herself with perfume, she couldn't get the stink of putrid gravy from her sweater. Three hours had passed since Riverdale High's very first food fight, and the dark brown stain over her chest had done wonders to her mood. Polly's college hoodie was ruined, and no matter how many showers she'd had before class, Betty's hair still felt like it was clumped together with gravy. By the time her classes had ended, she was ready to punch someone. "No, Kevin," Betty turned to face the boy, trying hard not to grimace. Her phone was vibrating in her pocket, no doubt reminding her of the detention she was supposed to be at. "It wasn't fun." wincing, she dragged her hand through her still-damp hair, which was yet to dry. Betty had spent her afternoon classes with scarlet cheeks, hiding behind her textbooks as her classmates complained of the lingering stink of food. Though she shared classes with the others, so it wasn't just her who had to bear the brunt of teasing from their fellow Juniors. She had gone from a ghost nobody paid much attention to, to a walking joke in an afternoon. And Kevin, for some reason, found it hilarious.

Seeing the boy's wicked grin, Betty folded her arms, scowling.

"What are you smiling at?" she grumbled, leaning against her locker. Her phone continued to go off in her back pocket, and she ignored it, gritting her teeth. The hallway was mostly empty, with most of the student body heading home. Kevin Keller cleared his throat loudly. "Oh come on, you guys did look pretty funny," he teased. "I didn't think you were the type to dump your lunch all over your former best friend, but you continue to surprise me," the boy wafted himself. "Damn, you could cut through all that sexual tension with a knife." he grinned at her, and she suddenly had the overwhelming urge to dump lasagne all over Kevin. See how he liked it, walking around stinking of rotting food. Betty rolled her eyes. She knew the boy was teasing, but felt as if it was her god given right to justify herself. "I told you I slipped," she curled her lip. "Some idiot had dropped pudding on the floor, and I stepped in it, and-" her cheeks grew warm at the memory of slipping backwards and watching her plate of lasagne flying into Archie Andrews' shocked face. "And before I knew it, my lunch was dripping from his hair."

"His wonderfully rich, red hair," Kevin sighed. "Do you think the tomato sauce dyed it?" he offered her a wipe, and she took it gratefully, scrubbing at her sweater to no avail. "What about Jughead and Veronica?" Kevin hummed. "They looked like they wanted to-"

"Kill each other?" Betty shrugged, unable to resist a smile. Good.

"I was going to say tear each others clothes off, but kill works too." Kevin grinned, and Betty threw the used wipe at him. "Hey!" he caught it, chucking it in a nearby trash can. After a moment, he raised his brow, and Betty was aware once again of her phone vibrating itself into a frenzy. She had half a mind to pull it out and throw it against the wall. For the second time this year. "Aren't you going to answer your phone?"

"No." Betty mumbled, but reluctantly reached into her pocket and pulled it out, glancing at the screen. Sure enough, there was the text she'd been dreading all afternoon. It filled her notifications, as if the text itself was getting impatient;

**"DETENTION. 3:30PM. MR SIM'S SCIENCE ROOM, A136."**

Glancing at her watch, it was 3:28, and the science block was on the very top floor. Betty pocketed her phone quickly. "I've gotta go," she muttered to Kevin, who nodded with a smile. "Have fun!" he shouted after her, and Betty choked back a laugh. Oh she'll have fun alright. With three kids she was pretty sure wouldn't care if she got hit by a bus. Betty managed to climb four floors of steps, tripping on the stone corners as she hopped up each one, her breath in her throat. When she finally pushed open the doors to the science corridor, Betty was ready to collapse. Her nose wrinkled when she stepped onto the dim hallway, a sputtering bulb above providing the only light, which barely illuminated the walk. She was left standing in the almost pitch dark. A foul odour tingled in her nostrils, the unmistakable stink of stale urine curled from under the restroom doors, depressingly mixed with deodorant and body odour in equal measure.

Adding to the reek was the smell of chemicals drifting from science labs left ajar. Betty power walked down the corridor, her backpack bouncing against her bag in rhythm with her speeding heart. She scanned each door. A130, A131, A132, A133, A134, A135-

The sound of the doors swinging open once again made her jump, a silhouette in the din slowly blossoming features, turning from a shadow, to a boy, and she found herself once again face to face with her Summer mistake. Archie had managed to clean himself up, but his Letterman jacket and shirt were still stained revealing red, which was no doubt tomato sauce from her lunch, which she had not so casually thrown all over him. His hair was a mess as usual, splayed across his pale forehead, but he wasn't wearing the baseball cap. The boy was struggling with his pack, trying to stuff his books inside, with a look of determination. When he looked up and met her eye once again, this time he didn't scowl. Instead, his lips curved into what might have been a smile. "Betty," he nodded at her before straightening up and zipping his bag. His almost smile turned into a scowl, his brown eyes leering at her. "Thanks for throwing your lunch in my face."

Betty couldn't help the words that came out her mouth. It was like word vomit. But she didn't hold back.

"You're welcome," she said stiffly. "I hope your shirt stains."

Archie rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this over with," he muttered, striding over to A136 and pulling the door open. Betty followed him inside after a moment of hesitation. The classroom was dark, except from an eerie green light casting shadows across the walls. Archie flicked on the light and Betty squinted when the bulbs flickered on, nauseating yellow light filling the room. "Dilton?" Archie was frowning at a tall boy sitting at one of the work stations. The eerie green light turned out to be a weird looking contraption that reminded Betty of something from Back To The Future. There was a low humming coming from it, the green glow getting brighter and brighter.

"What's that? Some kind of science project?" Archie strode over to the boy, who looked up, science goggles resting over his glasses. The boy looked slightly stricken. "It's nothing," Dilton muttered, his gaze going back to his weird-green-thing. Archie nodded, scratching the back of his head. "Right, well isn't this supposed to be detention? Dude, classes ended like half an hour ago."

"I'm busy," the boy muttered, not taking his eyes off his so-called project. Betty couldn't help it. The curiosity was killing her. She made her way over, leaning over the strange device. "What is it?" she murmured. The humming had turned into a low whirring noise, and she backed away, her heart jumping into her throat. The green light was freaking her out. "It looks like something from Stranger Things."

Dilton shrugged. "It's a prototype," he explained, prodding the project. The boy looked like he was about to catapult into an explanation, but the door opened once again, this time Veronica Lodge and Jughead Jones stumbling through. From the state of them; dishevelled clothes, mussed hair and Veronica's lipstick smearing Jughead's bottom lip, it was obvious what they'd been doing. Betty's gut twisted. Jughead's cheeks were flushed, his green eyes glassy as he came down from his high. The two of them were still covered in food, strawberry milkshake still staining the boy's jacket, but apparently Kevin had been right. Even still covered in old bits of food clinging to their clothes, Veronica and Jughead were glowing. When Jughead caught Betty's eye, his lip curled into a malevolent smirk. This was cruel. Betty knew she and Archie had made a mistake, but this was just wrong. Before she could say something, or more like sputter accusations from the gutter of her throat, the shame at herself, the pain and anger merging into one shriek aimed at her former best friend and boyfriend, Archie stepped in front of her.

"Are you kidding me?" The boy was glaring at the two of them. He looked as hurt as Betty felt. Veronica only flashed him a smile. She swiped at her lip with a manicured nail. Her skirt was still hiked up her thigh, and Betty couldn't stand to think about what she and Jughead had been doing to get them so hot and bothered. "What?" she giggled. "I was failing chem." It was almost as if they were replaying what had happened in the Summer, except there had been a role reversal. Though Betty and Archie hadn't boasted that they had gotten together. Betty could remember the moment in clarity; the two of them trying to cover themselves up, while spluttering different explanations that didn't add up. Betty could still see Jughead's look of immense hurt, the tears sparkling in his eyes. "Jug!" she'd choked out, shoving Archie out the way. "Jug, wait!"

He'd ran off before she had chance to explain herself. But there wasn't much to explain. Her and Archie had gotten a little carried away, a small kiss had blossomed into something else, and before she knew it, Betty was draped across the backseats in her best friend's pickup, her back pressed into hot leather, Archie Andrews' lips nibbling on her neck, his sweet voice murmuring into her ear. It had started as an experiment, a simple kiss, to see if she had still had feelings for him. But it had grown into something so much more, and Betty had instantly regretted it. The second the afterglow had dispersed, she was left choking on the aroma of sex and sweat, she came back to her senses, only for it to be too late. They hadn't exactly been inconspicuous. It was a group camp out.

Now though? Jughead was the one hurting her. And it killed Betty just as much had it had him.

"What's wrong Betty?" his voice might as well have been razor blades splitting her heart in two, shredding it to pieces. The worst thing was Jughead had the nerve to look innocent, almost mocking her expression the night she had hurt him. Her cocked head, the silent scream in her eyes. Except this time his eyes were laughing, enjoying her pain. Over the last few months since Summer, Betty had slowly seen the spark go from Jughead's usually bright eyes. And she was to blame. When he smiled now, his eyes were filled with pain, with anger at his girlfriend, at his best friend for betraying him.

But not today. Today, Jughead Jones looked like himself again.

He chuckled, running a hand through his hair, washed of milkshake. It was still a damp fluffy mess, sticking from his beanie. His green eyes were on Archie, and Betty knew he was loving the look of anger that flashed in the redhead's eyes. "What can I say, Arch? Veronica's dad owns the school newspaper. How else was I supposed to get my pieces published?" he crinkled his brow, his gaze flicking to Dilton's project, eyes widening slightly. Curiosity spiked in his expression. For a moment he seemed to forget the game he was playing with Betty and Archie's heart. "Is that thing gonna blow?"

Dilton's machine was whirring loudly now, the green light beginning to blink rapidly, casting the four of them in an eerie, sickly glow. Betty glimpsed a greenish substance begin to slowly trickle from a container held together with ductape.

"Is it supposed to do that?" she whispered, but her voice was drowned out by Archie, who was seething. He didn't even glance at the sputtering science project. "Jug, what the fuck?"

"What?" Jughead folded his arms, challenging the boy with a knowing smile. Archie clenched his fists. "You know what!" he growled, taking slow strides towards him. It wasn't until the two boys were nose to nose, when Jughead finally spoke.

"So I had a bit of fun with Ronnie," he rolled his eyes. "Just like you had "a bit of fun" when you fucked my girlfriend." his tone turned cold, and Betty felt shivers fly down her spine, reigniting the pain from that night. She expected Archie to back down, but he didn't, his brown eyes slitting. "So you douse Veronica in milkshake and then screw her in a science lab?" the redhead scoffed. "That was your big revenge plan?"

Jughead shrugged. "It worked didn't it?" when Archie's eyes widened, his lip curled. "I wanted to see was you hurt, Archie." his gaze flickered to Betty, and she felt tears prick in her eyes. "I wanted you both to feel how I felt that night."

Archie bristled. "So you got back back at me by sleeping with Veronica?"

"If I can get a word in," Veronica chirped. "I really was failing chem, and Jughead had a solution that fitted both of us, so why not, right?" Betty caught her wink, and she half wondered if smashing a beaker over Veronica's head was considered an offence, in Weatherbee's eyes. At least it would wipe the spiteful grin from her lips.

"Jug, listen to me." Archie shoved the boy against the wall, his bulging arms blocking an escape. "It was a mistake," he said softly. "The biggest mistake of my life, and I'm sure if you actually ask her, Betty will say the same thing."

Jughead held the redhead's gaze, and the smile was wiped from his lips. "You knew how much she meant to me," he growled. "You fucking knew!" Archie stumbled when Jughead shoved him back. "She spent her whole damn life crushing on you, and you never looked at her once, Archie! and when I fall for her, that's when you decide you want to be with her?" the boy's words hurt more than any pain could. Betty wanted to step in, to say something, insist that she loved Jughead more than anything. That Archie was a mistake.

"No, I never liked her like that!" Archie hissed. "It was a mistake!"

Jughead's lip quirked and he stepped away from Archie, holding his arms up. "Well in that case, Veronica and I were a mistake too. We're all equal now, right? Betty and I have kissed, you and Veronica, Betty and Veronica, Veronica and I, Betty and you..." he trailed off, lowering his voice to a low murmur and leaning forward, a teasing smirk playing on his lips. Archie didn't move, but Betty couldn't help notice he was staring at the raven head's lips. "The only ones who haven't got it on yet, are you and I, Arch."

Archie snapped out of it quickly, backing away. "I'd rather swallow my own tongue." he muttered, and Jughead looked hurt for the fraction of a second, before his eyes went skyward. "I wouldn't be surprised, considering your deteriorating brain cells."

"You're an asshole."

"You steal people's girlfriend's."

"What? Jug, are we in fucking fifth grade?"

"You _act_ like you're in fifth grade."

Betty tuned out of the boy's argument and turned to Dilton's creepy glowing thing, but her heart fluttered when she realised the boy was gone. Betty straightened up, searching for Dilton's familiar mop of dark hair. But her eyes only landed on the boy's weird machine, which was beginning to rattle. "Guys," she said, and when Jughead and Archie's argument turned into a shouting match, she hissed out a breath. "Guys!"

Jughead finally turned to glare at her. "What?" he snapped, before he followed her gaze. He let out a breath. "Wait, where did Dilton go?"

"I'm out of here," Archie headed over to the door. "Tell Weatherbee I got sick or something," he yanked at the door, but it didn't open. "Hey!" pulling at it again, the door didn't budge. "Did someone lock us in?"

Jughead scoffed. "You're way too paranoid for your own good." he strode over to the door and tried it, then again, yanking violently. He folded his arms. "Okay, so yeah, someone's locked us in."

Veronica folded her arms. "Maybe it was a janitor?" her blue eyes flickered to Dilton's contraption, which was trembling, green liquid spurting from the container.

"Is there a way we can turn that off? It's freaking me out."

"Never mind that," Archie muttered. "Where did Dilton go?"

"He went to the upside down, obviously." Jughead pulled at the door again, hissing in frustration. But the door was locked. Archie frowned, confused. "The what?"

The raven head chuckled. "You wouldn't understand."

Betty hadn't noticed Dilton leave the room. In fact, she was sure the door hadn't even opened. She opened her mouth to tell the others, but Dilton's machine entered its next stage, the whirring noise turning to a loud screeching which choked the words at the back of her throat. Archie kicked at the door, hammering his fists on the glass. "Hey!" he yelled, pounding the glass. "We're locked in here! Get us out!"

Jughead closed in on the machine, his face swamped in green light. Betty joined him, her breath in her throat. The whirring noise was digging into her skull. It felt like someone had shoved a wooden spoon through her skull and was stirring her brain into one giant confusing soup.

"What is it?" she yelled over the shrill squeaking. Jughead reached out with shaking hands, searching for an off switch. But the machine only spat the same green substance at him. He wiped it from his cheek, curling his lip in disgust.

"I have no idea!" he yelled back, to her surprise. "But whatever it is, it's gonna blow!"

"What?" Veronica staggered over, pulling a reluctant Archie with her. "Did you say that thing's about to blow?" when the overhead lights flickered off, plunging the room into darkness, Veronica let out a squeak. Archie swore, and Betty grabbed Jughead's hand on instinct. "I think so." Jughead didn't pull away from her grasp, instead yanking her back. "Everyone step back," he said shakily. "Get as far away from it as possible."

They all did, stumbling back as a four. The door was locked, so there was no way of out. They ended up pressed against the back wall, bracing for some kind of explosion. Betty didn't remember it happening, but somehow her arms ended up wrapped around Jughead's torso. Veronica was leaning into Archie, her pale hands wrapped around his bicep. But after minutes of waiting, nothing happened. The machine calmed down, green goo stopped sputtering, and the screeching dulled to a light whirring. When the lights came back on Betty let out a breath of relief, syncing with the others. Jughead cleared his throat, gently peeling Betty's arms from his torso. She jumped back, her cheeks glowing scarlet. "We should be able to turn if off now," he murmured, taking slow steps towards Dilton's machine. Archie followed him quickly, grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him back. "Jug, are you crazy? What if you set if off!"

Jughead yanked away from the boy's grasp, rolling his eyes. "Archie, I know you're too dumb to understand basic science, since you fall asleep in class every day, but I'm pretty sure Dilton's contraption doesn't have a motion sensor."

To test his theory, Jughead dragged Archie, pulling the redhead playfully to the machine with him. Archie stumbled along, digging his converse into the ground. "Jug, no!"

Jughead didn't listen. "See." he turned to the redhead, a genuine smile on his lips, and Betty realised he hadn't smiled like that since Summer.

"Do you believe me now?"

Archie looked too relieved to be pissed.

Betty took that as her cue to follow the boys, Veronica on her heel. The foursome loomed over the machine, with Jughead gently turning it around, searching for a lever or off switch. "I can't find anything," Jughead muttered, peering closer. He let out a frustrated breath. "Dilton is breaking a bunch of rules even having this thing on school grounds," he scooped up some of the green substance, frowning at the sticky liquid glued to his fingers.

"I've never see anything like this before."

"I have." Archie grinned at the boy, and Jughead let out a choked laugh, straightening up. Betty winced when the corner of his fist hit the machine, which set off another whirring noise, this time louder. "Are you serious?" he hissed. "We almost get blown up by Dilton's creepy slime machine and-"

The latter of whatever Jughead was about to say was cut off by a blinding flash in front of Betty's eyes, as if a nuke had been dropped directly in front of her. In that moment, it felt like she'd stared into the core of the sun. She opened her mouth to scream, to cry out, but before she could, something was hitting her, a shock wave propelling her into the air. The windows were shattering, the ceiling was falling on top of her, and she couldn't breathe, couldn't scream! In her decaying mind, everything went in slow motion. The classroom seemed to cave in, the walls falling through as she stayed suspended in mid air, as if a invisible hand had reached out and grabbed her, holding her for a second. Before dropping her back into the chaos, as the world swallowed her up. Suddenly she was drowning in a blur of black, her limbs being twisted and warped into oblivion. There was pain, so much pain, nothing like she'd ever felt.

Betty was only aware of her body flying, twisting, twirling, through a cloud of fire, dust and flames, which licked across her body, singing the hair from her scalp and ripping the flesh from her bones. All the air was choked from her lungs, her brain was knocked into her skull, ping ping, ping! like a pinball machine. Then with a sickening crack, she hit something hard, her body crumpling to the ground. Betty wasn't sure if it was a miracle or not, but she was still conscious, only able to stare at a crystal blue sky, where the roof had been. The science classroom was gone, reduced to rubble crushing her lungs. Her body felt broken, but she could feel something sharp digging into her back; millions of needles slicing into her spine, cutting through her flesh. Glass. She was lying in glass. Black spots danced in front of her vision as Betty stared hard at the sky, wondering why she wasn't dead. She couldn't turn her head, because that was too much pain. Too much agony, striking down her spine. Someone was ramming a burning rod into her spine, over and over and again. And she couldn't cry, she couldn't scream, her mouth was full of dust, full of debris drowning in her blood dribbling down her chin. The others! her straying thoughts cried out.

What about the others? Jughead. Tears burned in her eyes, but she had no breath to inhale, to cry. Where was Jughead? But she couldn't see. Every time she tried to move her neck, there was only pain. So much pain. The type of pain she'd prefer death over, her thoughts were dizzy, a confusing fog clouding her mind.

_I'm not dead._

_I'm not dead._

_I'm not dead._

It took a few dizzying seconds to realise that the voice in her head wasn't hers.

She was teetering on the edge of consciousness, lazily following the path of an airplane which was slowly drifting across the stark blue sky, before darkness finally consumed her.


	2. Crushed

* * *

Betty wouldn’t call it being awake, or even alive. She didn’t know where she was, drifting in oblivion, surrounded by the sound of TV static, a low buzzing noise which sounded like someone had planted a nest of bees into her brain. She tried to ignore it, but after a while, it grew louder, an ongoing buzzing getting more and more intense until it began to shriek, as if a radio was being tuned in, skipping stations one by one. After tolerating it for longer than she thought possible, Betty felt a pull- something yanking her back into her splintered reality. And then- she found her breath again, her ears pricked at the sound of a low beeping, and after a dragged out minute, she peeked through fraying lashes, expecting a television or a radio directly in front of her.

Except there was nothing, only the bland, yellowing walls of a hospital ward. Opening her eyes properly, Betty realised she wasn’t dead, but a straying thought left her wondering if that was a good or a bad thing. The static noise dulled slightly, and she was left to find her grip on reality. For a moment her mind was foggy, before the memories hit her like a wave of icy water. But her head was swimming, lulling her panicked brain into relaxation. Betty was no longer lying on broken glass, staring at a crystalline blue sky. She wasn’t choking on debris and her own blood, instead something plastic had been lodged between her teeth.

When she inhaled, the plastic thing moved with her mouth, and she shuffled uncomfortably. A persistent machine beeped rhythmically to her left, and Betty lazily rolled her eyes to the right where another hissed beside the bedside table. It reminded her of Dilton’s machine, and she shivered, prickles of ice creeping down her spine. Memories tried to leak through, painful ones that her brain couldn’t deal with. Being thrown back, the agony searing her spine, choking on dust and smoke with no voice to cry out for her friends. No. Betty gritted her teeth. She wouldn’t think about that...right now. Besides, whatever funky drugs they’d given her were working their way through her system, calming down any freak outs before they could erupt.

Instead of freaking out, like she really wanted to, _because holy fuck she wasn't dead -_ Betty focused on her surroundings.

The room was what she’d expect; clinical white walls and floors, various machines and contraptions hovering over her, monitoring her body functions. A low beeping noise sounded out, which was no doubt her heart monitor.

Her head ached and she was disoriented, plagued with flashes of her last moments; a bright flash in front of her eyes, followed be the sensation of being catapulted backwards. Betty’s eyes struggled to interpret the positions of the hands on the clock hanging next to the bathroom door. She heard voices outside the room, and after a moment of hesitation, sat up in the hospital bed, the thin pillows crinkling underneath her as she shifted to try and hear. There was a voice among others, standing out; “She can’t be!” it was her mom, and her hysterical cry set Betty’s heart beating into a frenzy.

Something tickled the skin under Betty’s nose. A tube. She tried to move her hands to pull it away but when she looked at them, there were other tubes. Attached to needles. Protruding from her skin. When she moved her hand, she felt a tugging tightness and her stomach slithered into her toes. Her whole body was covered in them, needles stuck inside her held in place by surgical tape. After struggling to speak through the plastic still stuck between her teeth, she spat it out.

“Get them out,” Betty whimpered to the air. She could see where the sharp steel entered her veins, and her breath shortened, a scream rising in her parched throat. Suddenly the tubes inside her nostrils were suffocating her, and she reached to yank them out. But she had barely any strength. Her hands just flopped back down. “Please,” She rasped, panic beginning to break through the cocktail of relaxants. “Get them out!”

“Elizabeth?” Suddenly bodies were crowding around the room, and Betty’s heart jumped, expecting to see Jughead, Veronica and Archie. But the figures were strangers dressed in white, followed by a familiar blur of blonde frizz and swollen eyes. Betty blinked and felt the scream die in her throat when she saw her mom. Alice Cooper was usually so put together, but her hair was a golden mess in red eyes, eyeliner smeared down her cheeks. She’d been crying, and Betty automatically felt guilty. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words caught in her throat when she noticed the look of horror, of complete dumbstruck, written all over her mom’s face. The nurse's surrounding her mother had the same expression; confusion. Wide eyes blinked at her, as if she'd grown a second head. Betty suddenly really wanted a drink of water, but figured asking for one at that moment, wouldn't be the best thing to do.

“But...” Alice Cooper stared at her daughter, and Betty frowned back, waiting for her mother to find words.

“You said - you said she was brain dead,” Alice’s tone got progressively more hysterical the longer she stared at Betty, blinking rapidly.

“You said she wouldn’t wake up!” The woman sobbed, stumbling over her words. “You...you said I’d have to say goodbye!”

The nurse her mother was yelling at looked stricken. She looked like a student, with brown hair pulled into a ponytail and freckles dotting her cheeks. She looked Betty in the eye, her lip trembling slightly. “She was.” Said the nurse, shakily. “Miss Cooper, as far as we were concerned, less than an hour ago your daughter had legally been declared brain dead,” the nurse cleared her throat. “Which means, she was, ahh-“ the woman choked on her words. “Miss Cooper, you must understand that there was no brain activity...” the nurse held her breath. “Your daughter was confirmed dead, at least in the brain. Though we were fairly sure," the nurse wouldn't look Betty in the eye for a moment, her gaze flitting between Alice and the humming machines. "Elizabeth was scheduled to be taken off life support in a few hours," she said softly. "She couldn't breathe on her own, and were were getting no readings from her brain. She was a vegetable."

What, like a carrot? Betty nearly asked that, but stopped herself. The drugs had taken away her filter.

Alice let out a sob. “Does she look dead to you?!” She squeaked, pointing at Betty. “How dare you falsely diagnose my daughter! She looks fine!”

The nurse shook her head. “Betty was in a vegetative state, Miss Cooper. There was simply no way-“

“I’m okay.” The words slipped through her lips before she could stop them, and her mom was collapsing into tears once more, while the nurse flitted around her like a moth, checking the tubes sticking out of her, as well as her monitors. “I’m okay mom.” Betty shuffled uncomfortably. She could feel her hair hanging in her face, irritating her eyes. What happened?” Betty remembered a bright light, and then choking, pain and darkness, the feeling of being tossed around the drum of a washing machine. But her mother's words were replaying over and over again in her mind, like a broken record.

She should be dead.

So why wasn't she?

Alice was quick to sit on her bed, grabbing her hands and cradling them. “Sweetie, you were in an accident.” She said softly, tears trailing down her cheeks. “The roof collapsed in your school, and you were-“ she trailed off, but Betty already knew what her mom was going to say.

Crushed. She had been crushed. That explained the pain, which was probably her body being twisted beyond repair, her spine splitting in half, her brain leaking through her ears. But looking down at herself, she looked completely fine. She moved her arm experimentally, then her legs. Her toes peeked at the foot of the bed, and she wiggled them. If her spine was broken, she wouldn't be able to sit up, to even speak. Hell, she'd be dead!

Alice squeezed her hand. “They said your vital organs had been crushed," she whispered. "the paramedics said there was no hope for you, Betty, so how...” Alice sniffled, swiping at her eyes. “How are you sitting there? How can you breathe without a machine? How can you talk?”

Betty bit her lip. “I feel fine.” She whispered. “Really, mom, I’m-I'm okay."

“Elizabeth, they said I had to say goodbye to you,” Her mom tightened her grip. “But you’re here!” She choked back a sob. “You’re- you’re really here.”

“I don’t understand,” the nurse spoke up, clearly trying to sound professional. But she was evidently shaken. “Betty, your readings are normal,” her gaze flitted to Alice. “You must understand that we had no readings at all for her, and now- Betty is showing up as completely healthy.”

"A miracle." Alice choked.

The nurse stared hard at her. Betty could almost see her diagnosis; broken, crushed, and brain dead. She wasn't surprised her nurse looked queasy.

Betty felt her gut twist. "What about the others?" she whispered. "Mom, what happened to them? They-" she swallowed. "they were in the room with me."

Alice's expression crumpled, and she cleared her throat. "Elizabeth, I'm so sorry." she said softly, and Betty felt a tremor in her chest.

"They're in the same state you-" Alice hiccuped. "The doctor's say there's no brain activity."

Betty let go of her mother's hand. Suddenly she was back under debris, fighting for her breath, staring at a sky, waiting to die, while a voice that wasn't hers murmured in her ear. _I'm not dead._ He whispered. _I'm not dead._

She bit her lip. "But-" lost for words, tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. It wouldn't register in her mind.

Brain dead. Her friends might as well be dead. Betty gripped the covers tightly, icy fingers flitting up and down her spine.

"Nurse Chambers, could I talk to you in private please?" a young looking doctor poked his head through the door, and she nodded, before heading out. After a moment of what sounded like intense whispering, Nurse Chambers came back in, her eyes wide, this time she looked like she was about to throw up. "Elizabeth, it appears your friends will make a full recovery." she cleared her throat, laughing a little. "I don't know what you kids are, but you're past being miracles."

"What?" Alice squeaked, her eyes widening comically. "But, but Fred's son! He-"

"Is fine." The nurse said softly. "They all are."

"Even Jughead?" Alice pulled a face. "There's no way! He was flattened!" 

Betty winced at her mom's vocabulary. _Flattened._

Nurse Chambers cleared her throat sharply. "Betty's friends have all made miraculous recoveries, and if I'm honest Miss Cooper, we're not sure how."

Her mother and Nurse Chambers fell into a conversation involving words that she didn't know, and scary ones like _tumour_ and aneurysm. She fought back the urge to insist that she was okay, that she could probably get up and out of bed and perform cartwheels. At least that seemed a good idea in her head.

All Betty could do was nod dumbly. The information was going one ear, and out the other. She had been brain dead, had no hope, and...then she wasn't.

Her friends had been crushed, flattened by debris, hanging on the edge of life, and then they weren't.

"Can I see them?" she asked, her voice sharper than she meant it to be.

The nurse shook her head. "You need to rest, Elizabeth. You're been through quite a traumatic experience."

And Betty did rest. After managing to convince her mom that she really was okay, even when she was sure there was no way she could have survived being crushed by a school roof, she fell into a dreamless slumber, where the TV static attacked her once again. This time it was louder, more persistent; _buzz, buzz, buzzing i_ n her ears, a relentless hiss. Suddenly a whole nest of bees were in her brain, eating up the tissue, gorging themselves while she screamed mutely into her own skull.

Betty imagined reaching into her brain and yanking them out, one by one. But even when she'd rid herself of every single damn bee, there was a swarm of wasps.

_Stop_! She shrieked mentally. But they didn't stop. They got worse, until Betty was half awake, tears flooding down her cheeks. It was the middle of the night, and she was shivering, the thin blankets she had been provided with were doing nothing to warm her up.

She had complained of the buzzing bees in her brain twice, and was assured that it was just side effect of the drugs.

So Betty tried to sleep. But all she heard was _buzzing, buzzing, buzzing._ It was driving her mad. She buried her head in her pillow, choking back sobs.

"Nurse!" she muffled into antiseptic sheets. It had felt like hours of the buzzing in her ears, before something finally snapped in her brain. Like a switch had been pulled. The buzzing turned to hissing, then crackling, and then finally, broken words were surfacing in her mind, hitting her one by one. Betty felt her blood run cold. It sounded, no _felt_ , like three different voices were trying to ram themselves into her brain, discombobulated murmurs thriving inside her skull. Suddenly she was seeing things she didn't want to see, through different perspectives, vivid colours spiralling in her mind, like she was travelling through a tunnel; She was seeing Veronica, hearing her breathy gasps, feeling her lips nibbling her - no- someone’s neck, purring into their ear, followed by the flash of light going off, and being catapulted backwards, the splash of gravy sauce flying through the air, heading straight towards them. And then way back, back to Summer. She saw herself half naked, blue eyes wide, lips curled with some kind of explanation. While Archie struggled to pull his jeans on, his brown eyes wide.

“Jug, Jug, I’m sorry- fuck, I didn’t-“

Jughead. Betty felt sick. She was seeing through his eyes. 

Betty couldn’t tear away from the memory. She was stuck to it, struck to him, following in his footsteps. She was staggering back with him, tears splashing onto concrete as he sobbed her name, his fist crashing into a brick wall, the stinging sensation rattling in his spine.

Shaking her head, she finally managed to retract herself from his mind, from his memories, the sudden outburst of images flitting across her eyes dispersed into nothing, and she was left drenched in sweat, swallowing vomit searing the back of her dry throat. 

"Help," Betty croaked. But she couldn't raise her voice above a whisper. "Something's happening to me, something's wrong-"

Then she felt the sensation, the sting, of fingernails piercing the flesh of her palms, but Betty's hands were gripping her duvet. She glared at her hands, making sure she wasn't imagining it, and she was in fact digging her nails into her skin, but she wasn't. Her fingernails weren't even sharp enough to hurt. Betty was staring at the ceiling, trying to will away the buzzing, the confusing voices and murmuring filling her skull, when she was hit by a second prickle of something skating the back of her mind. This time it was the tugging tightness of her IV being yanked out, followed by a sting of pain running down her wrist. She felt warm blood, dribbling down her arm. But when she stared down at it, there was nothing there. The needle was still stuck in her vein, held in place by tape.

Betty swallowed a shriek, but words that weren't hers were suddenly in the back of her throat, tangled on her tongue.

_Dad? Dad, what's happening? What's this? Get them out of me! Get them out!_

It took all her mental power to suppress the phantom scream fighting to tear from her lips.

Archie. Betty shivered. The boy's voice, his haunting cry, had been in her throat, his panic and pain, and anger, had enveloped her like an icy wave. She felt him tugging against the IV, trying to forcibly yank it out of his arm, as well as dizziness spiralling in his head when he sat up too fast. When Betty closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly, there were hot tears streaking down someone else's cheeks, a cry muffled between someone else's lips. 

No, it was Archie’s lips. She was feeling was _he_ was feeling. 

You're imagining it, she told herself. But the more she tried to tell herself that, the explosion in her mind only grew greater.

_My head,_ a soft voice murmured. _My head hurts._

Veronica. Betty wanted to cry out for the girl, but as unlike the boy’s minds, which felt like strings she could grab onto, Veronica’s faded quickly, collapsing into white noise. Eventually, after the swarm of voices, of crackling, hissing static attacking her brain all at once, only one made it through, and Betty felt a sudden feeling of warmth spread through her, chasing away Archie's tears and anger, as well as Veronica's confusion. The voice struck her, this time in clarity. He might as well have been sitting next to her. 

_Please, stop._ His voice set her lungs on fire. Jughead. Her eyes flickered open, and Betty stared at the ceiling once again, counting the tiles, convinced she was going crazy. First the buzzing, then the eruptions of feelings that weren't hers, and now Jughead. Who had somehow found a way to crawl into her mind. Not just the painful memories of him that were plaguing her, making her see what he had been through. No, it was his voice, a disjointed hiss sending needles into her heart. The boy wasn't speaking directly to her. It sounded like he was underwater, a distant whirr, still crackling with static. _Oh fuck_ , he moaned. _Please fucking stop. Jesus Christ, give me a break!_

It hit her then, that the boy wanted the same as her; for the buzzing, the relentless screeching static in his brain, to stop.

And then, she heard his sharp intake of breath- inside her head. Betty at up, blinking. Suddenly she wanted to pierce the flesh of her palms like Veronica, to scream for her dad and yank out the needle sticking in her wrist like Archie. Three different voices were overwhelming her tongue.

The drugs. It must be the drugs.

But she could still hear him, his heavy breaths reverberating in her skull, slow and steady, as if he was trying to control his breathing.

_Betty?_

Jughead's voice hung in Betty's mind, but her name felt wrong. She'd dreamed of him saying her name again, but not like this.

This couldn't be happening. Staring at the hands of the clock on the wall, Betty willed herself to snap out of it. She was still sleeping. Whatever was being fed through her IV was messing with her head, making her feel things she shouldn't be able to feel. Hear thing's she shouldn't be able to hear.

But her hopes crashed and burned when his voice came through again, this time less of a dig, a sleepy murmur;

_What's happening?_ _I can-_

More static, before; _I have no idea what I'm doing. Are you getting any of-_

_Betty, I-_

There was a whistling noise, followed by another sea of static, before finally, whatever signal had ignited in both of their minds, connecting them, stabilised. 

Jughead let out a hiss, which might have been a laugh, and it reverberated around her skull. Betty bit down on her tongue, burrowing under the duvet. She shook her head rapidly. You're imagining it, she told herself.

_It's not real it's not real, it's not real._

But the boy must have heard her thoughts, because another explosion of static erupted inside her head. He was laughing again.

_Oh trust me, it's real. I don't know how, and fuck, maybe I'm the second coming of Christ, because I should be dead. But this is real Betty. Listen to me._

She didn't answer, burying her head into her pillows, choking back sobs. She was going crazy. 

The boy sighed. She felt him, all of him, filling her, his feelings and disjointed thoughts hitting her like bolts of lightning. Despite what they’d been through, his voice was still cold, slithering into her mind whether she liked it or not.

_Of all the people to suddenly be able to telepathically communicate with, and it had to be you._

**Author's Note:**

> leave kudos if you liked, and thanks for reading <3 I'd love to know your thoughts! x


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